“They last so long,” the Southern Utah senior safety said. “A bag of chips lasts like two minutes tops — sunflower seeds last me all day.”

They used to last him all game, too. And that became a problem.

During his first three seasons at SUU, Hannemann would chew seeds during practices, during warmups and during games. He got in trouble a few times during his freshman and sophomore years for spitting them on the turf, so, unbeknownst to his coaches, he started wearing a hand warmer to put the seeds in. They saw him chewing on the field. They just thought he was chewing on something else.

Hannemann didn’t often wear a mouthpiece last season and he also missed three games with concussions. The T-Birds are hoping those two things are related.

While the research isn’t equivocal, there is a common belief that mouthpieces do help prevent concussions. A 2014 study in the 2014 issue of General Dentistry, the peer-reviewed clinical journal of the Academy of General Dentistry, found high school football players wearing store-bought mouthguards were more than twice as likely to suffer mild traumatic brain injuries than those wearing properly fitted, custom mouthguards.

So there is some basis for believing that a good quality mouthpiece can help. And that means no more sunflower seeds for Hannemann.

“From here on out, he is to wear a mouthpiece and sunflower seeds are only for meetings,” Collet said.

Hannemann was selected to the all-Big Sky third team last season despite missing a quarter of the season. He is one of the most feared hitters in the Big Sky and he’s also garnered quite the reputation as a ball hawk by pulling in seven interceptions during his career.

“We call him The Wolverine,” Collet said. “He’s a savage player. He’s full speed 100 percent of the time. He’s relied on talent his whole career but now his mental knowledge of the game have surpassed what his physical talents are. He’s amazing. I can’t wait to see what he does this year.”

There is excitement surrounding the team about the impact Hannemann can make this season. And there is a collective hope that his concussion issues are a thing of the past. Coaches have taught him how to better lead with his shoulder and, maybe, more importantly, they are making sure he’s wearing a mouthpiece.

“From what I’ve been told, it makes a pretty big difference,” Hannemann said. “I’m hoping that’s the case. I wish I would have known before, but I’m hoping that’s the case because then I’ll be good from here on out.”

But Hannemann has been told medical problems are behind him before, only to see them come roaring back.

While on his LDS mission in Tahiti, Hannemann began dealing with drastic weight loss, an ailing stomach and constant fatigue. He didn't think it was anything serious, to begin with, so he allowed the problems to go on for a couple months before finally asking for help. Help, though, became hard to find.

Buy Photo

Southern Utah safety Kyle Hanneman (7) reads the Montana State offensive as they line up for a play during Saturday's game, Nov. 5, 2016.(Photo: Jordan Allred / The Spectrum & Daily News)

“They said I had a parasite,” Hannemann said. “So they hooked me up to an IV and gave me pills each day. I was in there for four or five days. They got rid of the parasite -- you can imagine what that was like -- and said I was good to go.”

But he was nowhere near good; the symptoms never left.

“Me and my family had a little bit of a problem with the way it was being handled out there in Tahiti by his mission,” Kyle’s brother Jacob said. “So my dad flew out there. Kyle was acting weird and sick. He was gaining a lot of weight and losing a lot of weight drastically. So my dad brought him home.”

Kyle returned to Utah in December of 2012. He visited many doctors and heard almost just as many opinions. One said he had Lyme Disease. One said the parasite had just weakened his immune system. None of them seemed to have a definite answer.

“I didn’t know what path to go,” Kyle said. “... I wasn’t deadly sick -- I could walk around and everything -- but I was sleeping 12-14 hours a day and then just sitting and resting. I would try to do more physical things, but felt like I didn’t have the energy.”

Said Jacob: “He dealt with it for a hard year. Some doctors said he would never play football again.”

Buy Photo

Southern Utah safety Kyle Hanneman (7) poses for a photo with family members after the game against BYU in Provo, Utah, Nov. 12, 2016.(Photo: Jordan Allred / The Spectrum & Daily News)

Football gave Kyle a goal to reach towards. He didn’t want his playing career to be over. After a few months of trying and mostly failing to figure out what exactly was wrong with him, he decided to just attack the symptoms.

When he had stomach problems, he took medicine for that. When he couldn't sleep, he took pills for that.

“It wasn’t the best, but it was better than nothing,” Kyle said.

He had improved enough that when he got a call from then-SUU defensive coordinator Justin Ena asking him if he wanted to come to fall camp, he decided to try it.

“I was hesitant, but I came to camp -- and the first day I tore my meniscus,” Kyle said. “I was definitely not ready to come back.”

As he healed his meniscus, it gave him time to continue to get his body right. And when he came back for the 2014 season, he made an immediate impact.

In 2014 and played in all 12 games, making 19 tackles. He led the team in interceptions in 2015 with four before earning All-Big Sky honors last season.

The symptoms aren’t all the way gone, though. He has chronic bronchitis that he has to occasionally take antibiotics for (“I cough a lot during practice sometimes.”), and he still has to take medicine to help settle his stomach. But he’s fought it off enough to become one of the best safeties in the Big Sky.

“That guy is a competitor,” Warren said. “I’ve never seen somebody who goes out and competes like that every single day. I knew he was going to beat it and get back on the football field.”